User Manual

CLIPS WINDOW
280
MIDI Learn Mode: Puts the Clips window into a
special mode where you can click active items to
assign them to any incoming MIDI triggers, like
keyboard keys, controller pads, MIDI pedals, etc.
Enable MIDI Bindings: Temp or a r i ly e na bl es or
disables any MIDI assignments you’ve made in
MIDI Learn Mode.
OPENING THE CLIPS WINDOW
To open the Clips window, choose Project menu >
Clips. You can also simply click the Clips tab in the
Consolidated clips Window.
CLIP WINDOW BASICS
The clips window displays tracks in the current
sequence as columns with cells that hold clips.
Clips can be dragged and dropped into cells from
the Content Browser , Soundbites window,
Sequence Editor, Tracks Overview and other edit
windows. Clip data can also be copied from other
windows and pasted into a cell. Within a track
(column), clips can be arranged however you want
in the cells; their order top to bottom doesn’t
matter.
Each clip has a trigger (play) button (Figure 30-1).
Clicking it causes the clip to be queued for
playback, either before or while Digital Performer
is playing back. Once queued, clips initiate
playback according to the queue grid setting at the
time they are triggered (Figure 30-1). The Queue
grid is adjustable and typically set to 2 bars, 4 bars,
8 bars, etc. For example, if the queue grid is set to 4
bars, newly queued clips will begin to play on the
downbeat of bars 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, etc. The queue
grid only affects clips at the time they are triggered;
clips that have already been triggered are not
affected if you change it.
Clips consist of audio or MIDI data compatible
with their corresponding track type. If you try to
put a MIDI clip into a mono audio track, for
example, it won’t play; accordingly, it will have no
trigger button (as shown in Figure 30-2 on
page 282). Essentially, a clip can be made up of
anything that can go in the track: MIDI or audio,
automation data, pitch edits, etc. Think of a clip as
a small slice of the track.
Clips are typically one, two, four or eight bars long.
However, they can be of any length, as short as one
beat or as long as an entire song.
THE TRACK STRETCH SETTING
Before you begin using the Clips window, it is a
good idea to enable the Stretch setting for any audio
tracks you’ll be using in the Clips window. This
ensures that your clips will play in time with the
time line and each other. See “Stretch” on page 141.
CLIPS VERSUS CLIPPINGS
Clips in the Clips window are not the same as
Clippings, as explained in chapter 55, “Clippings”
(page 681). Clippings are much more broad in
terms of what they can hold as data. For example, a
clipping could consist of ten tracks worth of audio
and MIDI data. A clip in the Clips window,
however, can only consist of one track’s worth of
data. That said, a clipping could certainly be
dragged and dropped into the Clips window if it,
too, consists of data compatible with the track it is
being dropped into. Conversely, a clip can be made
into a clipping, so if you use clippings in your work
with Digital Performer, you could certainly use the
clippings feature to manage Clips window clips.
SHOWING, HIDING AND ARRANGING
TRACK COLUMNS
Use the Track Selector to show and hide tracks in
the Clips window.
Tracks are ordered left to right according to their
position in the Track List and Sequence Editor, top
to bottom. To rearrange the track columns, reorder
the tracks in the Track List (“The move handle” on
page 164) or Sequence Editor (“Moving tracks up
or down” on page 360).